Anyone taking Gabaphentin?

Toughenough....I have been on gabapentin for almost 5 yrs, now. This was prescribed when I was dx with nerve damage from 2 failed back surgeries. At first I was on 300mg a day and she slowly up the dose the 1st yr until I hit 1800mg. However with my dx of fibro they than raised my dose to 2700mg a day. My doctor said 4500mg is the high end so I still have room to move up if need be. I have been on the 2700 for 4yrs. now and helps with my nerve pain for sure. It has helped me but I have heard others say it did not help them.

Keep me posted as to how you are making out...good luck

Bless you and take care, Amy

Chronic pain(nerve), fibro and mild depression

I also have suffered from foot pain, however with the gabapentin being upped has helped quite a bit. They say mine is from nerve damage. When I had my back surgeries I had extensive nerve damage. It won't hurt to call your doctor and just ask if that was his intended dose.

I think you are right about fibro being brought on by your other illness, I think mine was too. I don't think I mentioned that after my 2 failed back surgery I was put on some meds that caused my colon to be diseased and had to be removed on 2007, I had an iliostomy for 1yr. and then had my small intestine hooked up to my rectum. After all that stress I then developed fibro........

Keep posting as there are so many members going through the same as we are. I think you will find it helpful....

Take care, Amy


Chronic pain(nerve), fibro and mild depression

toughenough

I don't know if you have tried this or if you can even take this but my mom has fibro and she has neropathy along with having tumors on the bottom of her feet. She had the one on her right foot removed. Anyway her feet are very painful and they give her meds for restless leg syndrome and it stops the pain. Just thought maybe that would be something you could look into.

Thanks paininthewhat,
They tested and I have no neropathy, they thought I had neuromas but the MRI didn't detect any so the foot doctor says it's fibro and the rheumy says it's not fibro. I was already taking medication for RLS plus he just put me on Gabapentin, which is also used for RLS. The pharmacist said I can take both.

I'm sorry your mom has had so many problems with her feet.

Nothing that I'm taking helps with my fibro pain or foot pain, well I just started the new one last night but it's a very low dose. Some mornings I wake up and have a hard time walking as my feet are completely numb. Somedays it just sucks to be me.

Hi Amy,

My hernia was an incisional one so they opened me up 3 times through the same incision in 7 months, what fun. My hernia was partially obstructing my small intestines so it had to be repaired. I had a few abcesses along the way there too. Just a lot of laughs here.l

I didn't call the doctor. I'm seeing my Internist soon so decided to ask her. Plus I just started taking Flagel (I might have spelled it wrong but the generic name is metronidazole) a heavy duty antibiotic to hopefully kill a possible infection in my j-pouch. Some people have a bad reaction to it so no sense upping the dose on the gabafentin at the same time.

Thank you for your support. I really hve no one to talk to about all of my health problems and I have physical and now mental ones as well. I want to get back to being me again.

Take care,
Paulette

Hi Amy,

I want a new normal, don't want to go back to all the stress that started me down this road. You are so right. I hate shopping too. I have anxiety problems around a lot of people and don't like shopping either. I've lost a lot of weight that I had gained from prednisone but thankfully saved a lot of clothes. I had to buy some new things but went when the stores were pretty much empty. I've become an internet shopper. I ordered my dress and shoes for our son's wedding on the internet.

Just doing a couple of errands tires me out. My energy has left the body.

I'm already dreading my theraphy session in 12 hours. I love my therapist but the getting ready, drivng there and back are what I dread.

It's comforting to know I'm not the only one fighting these little battles. My husband is great as he does all the grocery shopping plus he has been doing most of the cooking.

I'm going to print out this thread when I go for my next appt with the Internist. Maybe we can change my medications around and drop one and up the gabaphetin, since obviously I'm still in all of my fibro pain on top of the gut pains.

You have helped me so much today/yesterday. Thank you for talking with me.
Take care,
Paulette

Hi Paulette....I know exactly what you mean about no energy, just the thought of having to get ready to go to an appointment tires me. You are not alone, I am here right beside you.

My husband also does all the grocery shopping, however he is not much of a cook so we have fairly simple meals. When my daughter comes and visits she will make up a bunch of meals and freezes them. Thank goodness for my daughter. Just wish she lived closer....my wish may come true.....her and her future husband are talking about moving closer. My daughter went away for school. fingers crossed...lol...

Gabapentin, seems like it works for some but not others, you will just have to see if it is for you. I pray you find the right meds so life is a bit more comfortable for you. What kind of gut pain are you having?

You also help me as well...that is what is great about this forum there are others who feel like we do....
Keep in touch and let me know how your appointment went toay.

Take care Paulette

Bless you, Amy

Chronic pain(nerve), fibro , mild depression and a few others

I heard that gabapentin and Lyrica are related.

Thank you all so much for posting. He put me on the gabapentin to hopefully help my feet that are hurting, pins and needles, cold, numbness. After reading all of your posts I'm not going to take it anymore. I told him I'd tried Lyrica before and they are similar so why bother? I'm going to wait and talk to my Internist about it at my next appt in a few weeks.

My gut issue is that I had to have my colon (large intestine & rectum) removed and after several surgeries I have a J-pouch, which was constructed using some of my small intestines, that is learning how to act like a colon. A very long recovery and painful process. The same day the foot doctor prescribed the gabapentin I started flagyl for pouchitis, which is an infection in my new J-pouch. It is a strong antibiotic and is really giving me problems, nausea, headaches, fever, ect. So I'm not messing with the gabapentin anymore.

I really agree with medfree. I got to quit a lot of medications when I had the surgery, I had ulcerative colitis, and now it seems like they are building up again - going the wrong way.

I had to cancel my theraphy appt today as I didn't know if I was getting the flu or if I was sick from the antibiotic. I think I just need to get some super glue and duct tape and put myself back together, lol.

Today 12/1 was my husbands birthday and all I managed to do was bake him a cake and make him a card on my computer. Pretty lame. I didn't feel like going out, had taken pain medication so couldn't drive, so he had to go out to get take-out for his own birthday. It was from a good Mexican restaurant - not a chain. He said it was good but it tasted funny to me, another lovely side effect of the antibiotic.

I'm sorry for the long rant. Everything is just not working too well at the moment!

Thanks again for your support and for taking the time to help me.

Hi Paulette,

I hope things go well for you. We are all so different with different issues going on. If your internist thinks the Lyrica would be good for you I would take it if I were you.

Thank you. You've made me realize that I shouldn't be taking so much of a stand in here against meds. I don't want anyone to suffer or to become worse because of my personal experiences.

Good luck to you.

You're awesome too and so is everyone in this website. It certainly helps to have the support in this forum.

Good luck to you.